This project focuses on the interaction of molecules concerned with genetic information transfer. A primary objective is to determine under what conditions metal ions are essential for information transfer, and under what conditions they produce errors in the information and may thus contribute to biological aging. Topics of interest are: (1) The effects of metal ions on the structure of nucleoproteins and chromatin; (2) Age related changes in chromatin structure; (3) Interactions of ribosomes; (4) Dephosphorylation of nucleotides by metal ions; (5) Crosslinking of nucleic acid strands by metal ions; (6) The effects of metal ions on RNA polymerase; (7) Metal ions and cellular aging.